Expansion buckle



Dec. 12, 1950 G. J. HICKEY EXPANSION BUCKLE Filed Oct. 25, 1947 Patented Dec. 12, 1950 UNITED STATES FATENT OFFICE 3 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to the jewelry art, and has particular reference to a novel construction for an expansion buckle for bracelets and wrist watch straps.

The principal object of the invention is to provide an expansion buckle which may be adjusted to exactly fit the wrist of the wearer.

Another object is to provide a buckle having sliding parts which are continually urged to open the buckle to extended position, but are releasably held in contracted wrist adjusted relation.

A further object of the invention is to provide an automatic expansible bracelet buckle which is normally held in adjusted contracted position and is expanded by pressing a releasing catch.

Still another object is to provide a simple construction for an expansion buckle, having a small number of readily assembled and manufactured parts which are of sturdy construction, whereby the expansion buckle is inexpensive to manufacture and has a long and effective life.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in view, the invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosed in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and more specifically defined in the claims appended thereto.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a section of a portion of a wrist watch strap showing the novel expansion buckle in adjusted contracted position;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged upper plan View, the sliding parts being shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical section on the line 44 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one slide member;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the buckle base; and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the manually operable buckle catch member.

It has been found desirable to provide a buckle for bracelet and wrist watch straps which has slide members spring urged to extended or open position, but is releasably retained in adjusted contracted position by a releasing catch member which is manually operated to permit the slide members to move outwardly in expanded relation. To this end, I provide a buckle which houses at least two nesting slide members which are spring urged to extended position, and I provide a movable catch member which frictionally engages the slide members and retains the slide members in adjusted contracted relation, the catch member being spring pressed to holding position and having a portion extending outwardly, whereby it may be manually depressed to release the slide members when it is desired to expand the buckle, as for example when removing a bracelet or a wrist watch from the wrist.

Referring to the drawings, the novel buckle it includes a base ll and a cover plate 12 which are locked together to provide a generally rectangular housing for two slide members l3, M of special form, the slide members having the usual end connections for attachment to a bracelet or wrist watch strap and being normally urged outwardly from the ends of the housing by tension springs l5 which are secured to the base I I, as hereinafter explained, and connected to the slide members M to urge them outwardly from the housing. As shown in Fig. 5, each slide member has an upper portion It which includes a longitudinal runway element ll comprising the side I8 of the slide member and a depending side [9 as illustrated, the upper surface at the rear of the runway element ll extending transversely as indicated at 2D to form an enlarged portion 2| which is spaced from a slide arm 22 which is slightly depressed and extends longitudinally of the slide member and includes the other side 23 of the slide member.

The two slide members are of complementary form and nest together with the slide arm 22 of one slide member extending within the runway ll of the other slide member, the two slide members being seated on the base H with their side walls I8 and '23 slidably within the side walls 24 and 25 of the base, and. with their ends extending over the end walls 26 of the base, which are spaced from the sides 24 and 25 and permit free outward movement of the sides l8 and 23 of the slide members. The end walls 26 of the base are shaped as illustrated to facilitate the free sliding movement of the slide members, and are each provided with an opening 21 to which one end of a spring I5 is attached, the other end of the spring being secured to an opening 28 in the downwardly extending runway side l9, whereby the springs l5 continually urge the slide members to slide outwardly from the buckle housing as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. The enlarged portions 2| are each provided with stop pins 2la to engage the end walls 26 of the base.

The space included between the two enlarged portions 2i is utilized to receive a catch member 29, see Fig. 7, which is of elongated oval form, having an upper finger depressible portion 30 and a lower enlarged portion 3|, a number of strong coil springs 32 being in-set with recesses 33 and pressing against the base as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, to urge the catch member upwardly. The catch member 21, when mounted in the housing formed by the cover and the base, is thrust upwardly by the coil springs 32 so that the slanting. sides '35 of the lower portion 31 frictionally engage the sides [9 of the slide member and retain them in adjusted contracted position against outward movement by the tension springs IS, the upper portion 29 extending slightlyabove the housing as shown in Fig. 4 so that downward manual pressure on the catch-member releases the frictional engagement of the slanting sides 34 with the edges 19 of the slide members and permits the springs [5 to pull the slidemembers outwardly as indicatedin dotted lines in Fig. 3.

.The frictional engagement between the slanting sides 43- 5 and the inner edges is :of-the two runways of the slide members is sufficient to maintain the slide members .in-any-.-se.t contracted relation, but this friction may be assisted, if desired, by knurling or otherwise roughening the slanting sides 3-! of the catch member and the edges [.9 of the slide members.

The springs 15 are preferably of thetension type, but compression springs may be used if preferred by lockingtheouterends of thesprings to the opposite sidesof the base. Further, although I have shown two slide members only which when fully expanded under-theactionof the springs l5 provide an over-all. lengthening-of 100%, various modifications may be made if desired, such as for example utilizing additional slide members which are slidably nested within the slide members, or utilizing folding members which are nested within theslide members, to obtaiira greater over-all lengthening.

The invention thus comprises ahousing member obtained by'utilizing a-cover plate anda-baSe, the preferred cover plate having sidestfi and 35 which extend over the sides 24 andEE-of the base and are locked thereto by any suitable means, --two slide members, and a catch 'member, the 1;par-ts being-so designed that they may be readily stamped out of sheetmetal and readilyasscmbled withthe-springs-to provide an expansion :buckle which is easily contracted by the wearer so as-to snuglyfit the wrist when used withea bracelet or watch strap, and is instantly released to expanded position by pressing down on the .=catch member.

Although I have-described aspecifio embodi- 4 ment of the invention, it is obvious that changes in the size, shape and relation of the parts may be made to suit the requirements for different buckle constructions, without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In an expansion buckle, a housing, two slide members slidably mounted in the housing to respectively extend from "the ends :thereof, spring means in the housing-for urging the slide members outwardly from the housing, and a catch member mounted in the housing and releasably engaging the slide members, said catch member being manually movable to release its engage- -mentwith the-slide members.

2. In an expansion buckle, a housing, two slide members mounted in said housing for slidable extension from the ends thereof, said slide mem-- bers each having a longitudinal run-way and a slideelement and nestedto slidably seat the slide element of one-slide member in thEillYl-WflYxOf theother slide ;member,gsprings :having one end secured to the housing and the other end secured to-the slide members to urge them outwardly 'irom the housing ends, anda icatch -member mountedjin the housing and resiliently urged into holding engagement withathe slidevmembers, said catchmember having apart extending from the housing for manual actuation- .to release the holding ,engagement.

-3. .In an expansion buckle, a housing two slide members mounted in-saicl housing :for slidable extension from the ends thereof,- said slide members each having a longitudinal 'run-wayand' a slide element and nested to slidablyseat the slide element-of one slide member in the run-way of the other slide memben'springs mounted in the .housingand ,engagingthe slide members to urge them :outwardly from the housing ends, and a catch member mounted in the jhousingand resiliently urged into holdingengagement with the *slidemembers, gsaidxcatch member having a part extending from-the housing formanual actuation-to release the holding engagement.

GEORGE JOSEPHHICKEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the -file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,997,836 Steinberg Apr. 16,1935 2,142,023 -Goulden .iDeC. 27, 1938 

